Plot
An LAPD officer will stop at nothing to force out the interracial couple who just moved in next door.
Release Year: 2008
Rating: 6.2/10 (24,174 voted)
Critic's Score: 47/100
Director:
Neil LaBute
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington
Storyline In California, the Caucasian Chris Mattson and his African-American wife Lisa Mattson move to a house in a safe compound. The racist and dysfunctional next-door neighbor is the abusive LAPD Officer Abel Turner who feels uncomfortable with the relationship of the newcomers and transforms their lives into Hell on Earth.
Writers: David Loughery, Howard Korder
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson
-
Abel Turner
Patrick Wilson
-
Chris Mattson
Kerry Washington
-
Lisa Mattson
Ron Glass
-
Harold Perreau
Justin Chambers
-
Donnie Eaton
Jay Hernandez
-
Javier Villareal
Regine Nehy
-
Celia Turner
Jaishon Fisher
-
Marcus Turner
Robert Pine
-
Captain Wentworth
Keith Loneker
-
Clarence Darlington
Caleeb Pinkett
-
Damon Richards
Robert Dahey
-
Jung Lee Pak
Ho-Jung
-
Sang Hee Pak
Dallas Raines
-
TV Weatherman
Michael Sean Tighe
-
Manager
Taglines:
What could be safer than living next to a cop?
Opening Weekend: $15,004,672
(USA)
(21 September 2008)
(2464 Screens)
Gross: $39,263,506
(USA)
(2 November 2008)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
At one point Abel jokingly asks Chris if he's a superhero. Patrick Wilson will go on and play one in
Watchmen.
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes:
Actual LAPD uniform shirts have metal buttons on the pockets and epaulets, whereas in the movie they have plastic buttons.
Quotes: Chris Mattson:
Did you see anybody? Abel Turner:
No. I just see you.
User Review
Taut and well acted but with a nearly unforgivable ending
Rating: 7/10
Seven. Yes, seven. No, I'm not talking about the David Fincher directed
thriller, nor am I referring to Samurai, Dwarfs or the lucky number. In
this context, seven denotes the number of wince inducing minutes it
takes for Lakeview Terrace to throw it all away.
Particular genres of movies tend to have a nasty propensity to ruin
their final acts, the foremost of those being thrillers and horror
films. May it be an amateur director not knowing how to complete their
vision, studio intervention sucking the life from the screen or the
commonly occurring revelatory "shocker" ending which tries to jam too
many ideas in the viewer's already bleeding sockets. Oddly, director
Neil LaBute's latest offering does not succumb to a conventional
destructive timeline, but instead opts to cataclysmically implode in
literally the final scenes, a feat which few films can boast. Perhaps I
am being an iota harsh, as I am recommending this film and the majority
of this review will be skewed favourably, but chiefly, my unbounded
feelings of contempt towards the finale should stand as a testament to
their standalone absurdity which contrasts harshly with the preceding
90 or so minutes.
Samuel L. Jackson has had a vibrant career portraying characters in two
spectrums of the acting realm. On one side we have his depictions that
can be lumped into the loud-mouthed anti-hero category (Pulp Fiction,
Die Hard with a Vengeance, Snakes on a Plane), and on the other, his
more nuanced (as nuanced as Sam Jackson can be) roles. (Black Snake
Moan, Resurrecting the Champ, Coach Carter) Lakeview Terrace to some
extent blurs this boundary, but for the most part Jackson plays his
role straight, and he is very good because of it. Jackson plays Abel
Turner a veteran, but widowed LAPD officer who lives his daughter Celia
(Regine Nehy) and Son Marcus (Jaishon Fisher) on Lakeview Terrace in
the hills. He is strict to be sure and his protective nature sometimes
obscures the obvious affection for his children. It is touches like
this, and similar additions by LaBute that makes his character all the
more menacing when the tension later builds, as he is not so much a
faceless villain, but a deeply flawed everyman. Despite an encroaching
wildfire, things are routine on Lakeview; Abel patrols the
neighbourhood at night, loves his job and wants nothing more then to
protect his family. Things change however when a new couple move in
next door. The fact that husband Chris (Patrick Wilson) wife Lisa (Keri
Washington) are interracial is only the fuel for Abel's contempt, and
when his children witness a late-night skinny dip by these two
newlyweds, the fire erupts and Abel and Chris' lives spiral out of
control.
Fashioning Abel as a cop is an intelligent choice, as per the
television advertisements indicate, what are they going to do, and who
are the authorities going to believe; who will police the police
indeed. The tension for the duration is so high, you don't even need a
knife to cut it, and a definite sense of dread and menace perforates
the narrative. LaBute, truthfully, makes few mistakes, he allows for
character development, and as I mentioned not just regarding Chris and
Lisa, lets the story develop at a slow burning pace, with the hillside
fires mirroring the escalating tempers. The story is also far more
insightful and caring then I ever would have anticipated regarding the
complicated issue of race and marriage, without feeling shoehorned into
the thriller template. As you can clearly discern I have a fairly large
amount of admiration for Lakeview Terrace, which brings me to the
ending.
Few endings I have seen have represented such a radical shift in tone,
and made its characters undertake such ridiculous and uncharacteristic
actions then we see here; and I assure you it is jarring. The
immediately preceding act, is an iota off kilter with the acts
preceding, but does not draw attention and properly illustrates the
consequences when things are taken too far in the name of retribution.
I was fully under the impression that things were going to end sharply
until Abel's character jolts erratically from intelligent saboteur to
volcanic lunatic and makes a series of choices that are against both
his nature, and what the audience would want to see transpire. Either
Abel lost his mind, or the director did. Those who seek out this film
in theatres may be disappointed and feel the conclusion somehow managed
to bilk them out of their cash like a sneaky pickpocket. LaBute's
finale does not so much embody a slap in the face, but a swift hard
kick to the groin.
Read all my reviews at Simon Says Movies:
http://simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com/
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